I'm planning to recover an Acronis Image - need fresh start again! Do I need to unplug my second drive (now empty and waiting for Ubuntu) before recovery? There's no Boot Record on 2nd drive, except that strange 100mb partition left from old Win7 install.

I'm no expert here, but you've definitely got to be careful with that 100mb partition. (It's a boot partition.)

If the 100MB Boot partition is on the 2nd drive, it's probably already in the wrong place. The OS may not boot with the 2nd drive disconnected, but if the configuration will tolerate it *Shrug* what works...works.

This will probably look like hell because it is getting pasted out of a .doc file (but I'm a bit pressed for time):

MS Boot Configuration Data EditorFor When Boot Fails Because the OS is Missing!The following procedure is used to completely rebuild the Windows Vista, 7, 2008 boot configuration when it has either been badly damaged, or when restoring the OS to different hardware with a different disk/partition configuration.1. Boot from appropriate OS media.2. Select the current Windows installation if available.3. Choose Command Prompt and run the below commands (some may be optional):bootrec.exe /fixmbrbootrec.exe /fixboot bootsect.exe /nt60 all /forceattrib -s -h -r C:\boot\BDCdel C:\boot\BCD bootrec.exe /RebuildBcdbcdboot.exe C:\Windows /S C: /L en-us

Diskpart can also be used to mark a partition as active from the Windows RE.DiskpartLIST DISKSELECT DISK (followed by the number of the disk – most likely 0)LIST PARTITIONSELECT PARTITION (followed by the partition number – most likely 0)ACTIVEEXIT Windows startup recovery should now work.

When I installed he new Sata drive (2Years ago) and reinstalled Win 7 on it, the old IDE drive was unplugged! The 100b partition was left over when I wiped the system from it. I have no 100mb partition on new install?

One good reason to remove any drive that is unrelated to the restore is to avoid the horror story you hear too often where people restore to the wrong drive, wiping out there existing data.

Other ATA drive is empty - waiting for Ubuntu lol

All the more reason to keep the drive unplugged so Windows doesn't decide to use it while sorting itself out on a first boot attempt. The 100MB system partition isn't mandatory, it's just a strictly enforced highly recommended option.